Carrying out the legacy of Amal Prabha Das at Sarania ashram

My friend Subrato Sharma studied in Rajghat Besant School in Varanasi with me. She now teaches at the Cotton College in Guwahati. Her father was a Gandhian and  later became a member of the legislative Assembly in Assam. Subrato took me to meet Sakuntala Chowdhury and  Hemo Kakati, both octogenarians, who stay at the Sarania Kasturba Gandhi ashram to look after its varied activities. Both of them were colleagues of Amal Prabha Das who was a reformer and a Gandhian. She along with her mother, Hemaprabha Das, set up the Sabarmati-style ashram in the Sarania Hills near Guwahati.

With Sakuntalaji and Hemo Kakati ji

Amal Prabha was the child of Hema Prabha and Hare Krishna Das. In 1934, when Gandhiji visited Assam for the Harijan yatra, he stayed at her parents’ house. Amal Prabha got to see his work at close quarters and this inspired her to walk the path of service. In 1927 she was denied admission to Cotton College as she was a girl; ironically this same college was later to offer her a job but she declined. She traveled to Calcutta and studied applied chemistry, becoming the first Assamese woman to get a postgraduate degree. She also studied clinical pathology there.

Having completed her studies, in 1939 along with her mother, she visited the Maganvadi Center of Self Development at Wardha in Maharashtra to learn about constructive programs for village development - to train local people in handicrafts and small-scale forest-based industries. Inspired, the mother and daughter decided to set up indigenous cottage industries on their Sarania Hills land. The ladies also started training the downtrodden masses so that they might stand on their own feet. That marked the genesis of many a creative activity atop the hills. When Kasturba Gandhi died in 1944, Gandhiji set up the Kasturba Gandhi Memorial Trust and appointed Amal Prabha to supervise its work in the Northeast.

The cottage where Gandhiji had stayed

When  Gandhiji came to Assam in 1946 he stayed in the Sarania ashram and formally inaugurated the Gram Sevika Vidyalaya.  Gandhiji  is said to have commented about  Amal Prabha, ‘Yeh ladki chatur hain, kam kar sakti hain,’ (this girl is clever, she can work).  Assam’s Amal Prabha Das, dedicated  her life to render service to the suffering humanity.

Many of the present generation do not know that it was in Assam, particularly the area under Dhakuakhana and Dhemaji, that the Bhoodaan movement took concrete shape of Gramdaan. The draft of the first Gramdaan Act was prepared by the Kasturba Trust, Guwahati and presented to the government of Assam and was promptly made into a law at the untiring efforts of Amal Prabha. At Guwahati, Mahendra Mohan Lahiri donated 100 bighas of land on which she started the work of Assam Go-Seva Samiti.

With Subrato Sharma under the tree where Gandhiji  sat to spin the charkha

I was fortunate to have spent some time with both the grand old ladies who look after the ashram to continue the work of Amal Prabha Das at the age of 92 and 89 respectively even today. The serene surroundings of the Sarania ashram, the cottage where Gandhji had stayed for three days, the tree under which Gandhiji used to spin on the charkha and the gentle Gram Sevikas in their simple Khadi mekhala and dupatta reminded me that one of the qualities of Gandhiji was  that whoever came into contact with him, did his work, all through their life, considering it their mission.   

Champion of the poor

The recent communal riots in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh has brought back  memories of the Noakhali ,massacre and of Mahatma Gandhi, the soldier of peace, the champion of the poor, who walked alone among them.   The one who always shared the sorrows of others, was filled with anguish by the degradation of  the human spirit. The news about the human tragedy reached Gandhiji  who was on his way to Sevagram from Delhi.  He decided to proceed to Bengal and not to Sevagram.  It is said that on 10th October 1946, a one sided massacre commenced in the Muslim dominant areas in Noakhali district of East Bengal (now in Bangaldesh). The violence was well organized and well-executed, as if it were pre-planned. The people who were well acquainted with each other, who had spent days and nights working together in the fields, had carried out this massacre. Gandhiji had camped in Noakhali district and toured the district in a mission to restore peace and communal harmony in the winter of 1947. Gandhiji’s tireless pilgrimage for peace in Noakhali and Tipperah districts began from Chandpur and lasted four months.

Gandhiji in Noakhali ,1947

He went from village to village through the muddy paddy fields and the network of waterways to wipe tears and give solace to the victims. The Ganga flowing on the west and the Brahmaputra coming from north east converge to become river Padma.  A little further to the south river Padma is met by the river Meghna as the confluence of the great rivers form a delta. Walking tirelessly through the densely growing coconut and betel nut forest, he appealed to Hindus and Muslims, men and women that they should take the pledge not to kill each other and ensure peace.  Gandhiji realized that the common people had not forsaken their humanity to the extent that the leaders had.  Gandhiji’s message to both Hindus and Muslims was to be free from fear.

The means to people’s heart is through service. It is through service that the soldier of peace knew the pains of others and gave courage to the helpless and gradually rekindled  trust in the adversaries. This soldier of peace was a young man of seventy seven. Faith in God and prayers sustained him. He gave courage and fortitude to thousands who had lost hope.

Gandhiji was asked towards the end of his stay in Srirampur as about the  impact of his stay. He replied, nothing tangible, but then, ‘non-violence works in unseen ways.’ 

After Gandhiji had left for Bihar, a very old Muslim approached Satish Chandra Dasgupta. He was throughout with Gandhiji arranging his route. Gandhiji  had entrusted the work of restoring peace in his able hands. The old man asked Satish Chandra when Gandhi baba would be returning.  Satish Chandra told him that Gandhiji was in Bihar and has a lot of work their now. He assured the old man that as Gandhiji had said he would come back, he would .The old man said, ‘do let me know when he comes back.’  Satish Chandra was curious to know as to why he wanted Gandhi to come back. The old man said,’ Who else except him is there to worry about us, to care for us?’

Khadi sari from Usha didi

Recently, I met Usha H. Gokani, one of the granddaughters of Mahatma Gandhi in Mumbai. In Sevagram as a child, I was very fond of her parents Ramdas Bhai and Nirmala Ba. They used to live in the Ashram and my brother and I used to pass their house every day on our way to basic education school in the nearby Shegaon village. 

We always used to stop by their house and Nirmala Ba would always give us something to eat. We would be excited and go home eating the goodies. 

I remember Usha didi and her sister Sumitra didi who used to visit their parents often in 

With Usha didi at her home 

Sevagram. After almost 50 years, I got a chance to meet Usha didi in Mumbai on June 18, 2013. She looked like her father Ramdas Gandhi to me and lovingly fed me 'Handavo', a Gujarati specialty.  Currently she is the chairperson of the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, Mumbai and Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya. She continues to carry out many activities in the memory of her grandfather Bapuji through these two organisations. 

Gandhiji used to stay in Mani Bhavan at 19, Laburnum Road in Gamdevi  in Bombay during his visits between 1917-1934.  During these 17 years, Mani Bhavan used be the focal point of Gandhi’s political activities. This mansion belonged to Revashankar Jagjeevan Jhaveri who was Gandhiji’s friend and host in Bombay during this period. It was from Mani Bhavan that Gandhiji had  initiated the non -cooperation, Satyagraha , Swadeshi, Khadi and Khilafat movements.

Inside Mani Bhavan 

Gandhiji’s association with the Charkha (spinning wheel) began in 1917, while he was staying in Mani Bhavan. It is also closely associated with Gandhiji’s involvement in the Home Rule Movement.   

Usha didi presented me with her own  Khadi sari as I touched her feet to seek her blessings for my Gandhi karya.